Love Stage!! 05-08

BEAM-CHAN’s friend in action

Yeah, a post about 4 episodes of Love Stage!!… Don’t even comment on that. I did this on purpose, but I didn’t expect myself to postpone this until today orz

The reason why I waited until 4 episodes is so that I can talk about the progress between Izumi and Ryouma. It was, unfortunately, the usual damsel-in-distress situation where Ryouma helped Izumi so many times to the point where Izumi falls for Ryouma’s kindness. To make it even worse, Izumi was at his lowest too. This situation makes the whole thing feels so cliché, but somehow Zaou Taishi managed to twist the story into an interesting one, making the audience forget that the whole thing is actually cliché. I mean, falling in love at someone just because he helped you so many times? If that’s the case, I would have fallen in love with so many people. But somehow, in Izumi’s and Ryouma’s case, it works.

Thankfully, despite of the cliché script, there’s more in Ryouma that makes it worth it for Izumi to fall for him. First, he’s not an asshole. At least, he isn’t one when he’s with Izumi. He even rejected Izumi’s offer to screw him when Izumi was down. And this is someone who was kissing Izumi nonstop. Talk about self-restraint! But the best of all has gotta be Ryouma’s sincerity. He literally walked back and forth here and there in Tokyo. He had to beg just to get Saotome-sensei’s address between his schedules, and then went back to work after such exhausting moment. Not to mention there’s also Izumi who was living at his place. And yet not once did Ryouma ever complain about it. He didn’t complain when Izumi “treated” him like a slave without giving anything in return, not even a kiss. He’s just that dedicated to Izumi. And this kind of man is probably the best for Izumi, since Izumi has… a special personality, in a way? Anyway, Ryouma is being an awesome future son-in-law. Can we nominate him as The Ideal Love Interest of the Year?

Though Ryouma is being a great dude, I don’t think the same can be said about Izumi. Although I can understand his depression when the editor rejected his manuscript in such a way, that is still not a good excuse for running away from home.  He’s being a spoiled brat, and even so when Ryouma lectured him in a way. And until now, he still hasn’t realized that he is one. That personality of his is probably one of the reasons why Izumi is such a fresh character in the yaoi world, but I couldn’t help but being pissed off at him sometimes haha. Nevertheless, I did see a character improvement in Izumi. For once, he can actually read the mood in a situation. Rei’s feeling is finally conveyed to Izumi, and Izumi actually didn’t act like a spoiled brat for once! Though it’s because of Ryouma’s involvement, but still! A great improvement in his personality! So even though it’s slow, the change in Izumi can actually be seen, and we have to give credit to Ryouma for that. Now that Izumi finds the person he wants to spend his lovely days with, let’s see how Izumi is going to convey his feelings for Ryouma. I’ll be expecting lots of explosive and hilarious moments when this happens.

More Ryouma x Izumi:

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Every male audience watching Love Stage!!

Even salarymen have their own cliche stories

At least they didn’t PINK-CHAN/BLUE-CHAN this one

Kawawi

Overall, the past 4 episodes have been, as usual, enjoyable. Man, every episode is enjoyable. This is pretty rare since I usually would lose the momentum in the middle in the series. But that’s not the case with Love Stage!!, and I have to give my applause for Zaou Taishi for creating such entertaining, engaging, and exciting story. And Izumi! Since he’s definitely a fresh breeze in this boring yaoi world.

I was worried about how J.C. Staff is going to handle episode 8 since I realized that the materials aren’t enough to last until the last minute… Excluding the bonus stories and Back Stage!!, of course. It was pretty smart of J.C. Staff to change the “style” in episode 8, giving more space for the director to do some recap while continuing the story + adding the bonus stories and Back Stage!!. With the three combined, we get a full episode that is satisfying and still entertaining. And it’s awesome how the director handled the three different elements in such a smooth way! I bet many of the audience didn’t realize that half of episode 08 is actually the combination of bonus stories and Back Stage!! (Rei’s story). Heh, J.C. Staff is getting smarter and smarter, I’m actually liking them more now. With the confession the only arc left, I can imagine a satisfying ending where everybody is happy. I can’t wait to see it this week!

Preview: Confession Arc is here! Will Izumi able to tell Ryouma his feelings? /drum rolls/

This can only lead to one thing!

About anaaga

Have read 418 BL manga and continuing.